Daisy
by summerlinde
Summary: The summer between first and second year, Severus's cat has kittens. Daisy is his favorite. But with his father in the house, can he really keep her? And even if he can, should he?


**Originally written for a fic exchange on Mugglenet Interactive. The giftee sent the prompts kitten, lost, a novel, a cross necklace and the phrase "It seems like my wish has been granted," and she listed Lily/Severus as a possible pairing, so here we are.**

* * *

Daisy was the smallest kitten of the litter, but she was also Severus's favorite. She had soft, white fur and bright green eyes that reminded him of Lily Evans, and Severus wanted to get her out of his backyard before his father could find her. He wanted to get _all_ of the kittens out before his father could find them, but he couldn't help feeling that Daisy was the most important. She seemed the most fragile of the lot, and the most beautiful - and then there were the green eyes, so much like Lily's, and when he looked into those eyes, he just couldn't quite love the other kittens the same.

He shoved his way into the back corner beside the fence where the mother and the kittens were, and Daisy toddled toward him faster than the others, even when her mother half-hissed grumpily at him. Daisy seemed to like him best - which was only right, since he liked her best, too. Her mother, Socks, was a spiteful broken-down neighborhood cat who had grown only marginally more tolerant of Severus after having been dragged off to Hogwarts for a year. Daisy was a perfect new little life, and she was coming to Hogwarts this year instead, if he could just keep her away from his father for the rest of this summer.

"I wish I could know you were safe," he whispered to the kitten. "I wish I could take you away from here so that you never have to come back."

That was a new thought, never coming back. He loved his mother and he'd never leave her, but the idea of getting away from his father for good had a new pull on him after a year away at school had proven how much safer it felt to be away, even with the other kids bullying him at Hogwarts.

Severus had brought Socks to school because he'd been afraid the other kids would make fun of him for not bringing a pet if he didn't, but Socks was an ugly animal, with dirty-looking, mottled brown fur, several scars, and only half an ear on her right side, and she hadn't made him any friends. Daisy was perfect. The other kids would love her - but this year, that didn't seem to matter. Even if they loved his cat, they wouldn't love _him_.

The Slytherins would continue to put up with him because he was a housemate while disliking him for being a half-blood, the Gryffindors would keep picking on him for wanting to be friends with Lily, and the other two houses would mostly stay out of it instead of being his friends _or_ his enemies. But at least he would have Daisy to love. It would be better that way. It would be better to hold onto the one creature in the universe who cared about him, and to hold onto whatever friendship could be managed with Lily in spite of everyone else at school.

When he sat here in the back corner of the yard, hiding behind the broken wheelbarrow that hadn't moved in years, snuggling with the runt of the litter, he could actually look forward to going back, even though Hogwarts had turned out to be rather a large disappointment.

All of a sudden, a series of crunching noises sounded on the other side of the wheelbarrow, and Severus realized he'd been thinking so hard about going back to school that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. The crunching resolved itself into a set of heavy footsteps that meant only one thing - his father was about to find them! Heart pounding in his chest, he tucked his too-large shirt into his pants and dropped Daisy down the front of it, freeing his hands so that he could get up, trying to stay in a half-crouch and sneak around before his father saw him.

She yowled unhappily, sharp little baby claws digging into his stomach, and he looked up in horror, certain his father would have heard. His father's voice boomed back angrily, "What are you doing back there? Useless boy! Din' I tell you to clean up this damned yard?"

His father had said nothing of the kind, but Severus knew better than to argue. "Y-yes sir!" he squeaked, "I . . . I'm doing it now!"

Tobias Snape took three steps toward Severus, hand raised to hit him, and Severus shrank backward away from him, squeezing his eyes shut against a blow that never came. Instead, his father started howling about the kittens like he was afraid of them.

"What are those things! Devil rats! I won't have no devil wizard rats in my yard!"

He shoved the wheelbarrow, hard, and it started to topple toward Severus and the kittens. Sev leapt out of the way, and when his father's attention stayed on Socks and the kittens instead of switching to his son, he ran.

He knew he shouldn't run, because he knew the rest of the kittens would be gone when he got back - or he'd have to bury them if they weren't. But he couldn't stay. Not with Daisy wriggling inside his shirt, mewling pathetically and still scratching to get out.

* * *

Severus ran until he could be certain his father wouldn't follow, then pulled Daisy back out of his shirt, cradling her against his chest and whispering to her until she finally calmed down. Now that he was properly holding her, she seemed less scared, and that was probably a good thing. It was probably the best he could hope for. He kept walking, not sure where he was going, but sure that he _wasn't_ going home. He walked until he was completely lost, and he wasn't sure he even cared.

Spinner's End was far behind him when he finally stopped walking and sat down on the curbside to think. He couldn't take Daisy home. He also couldn't stay out here forever. He was going to have to go back home eventually, and now he'd reached the point where the longer he stayed away, the worse it would be when he returned. He had to figure out a safe place to put Daisy, and he had to face the music. Staying out here wasn't good for anything. Or anyone.

He scratched between Daisy's ears and the kitten looked up at him, her green eyes catching the light so that they seemed even greener than usual. Of course. He'd take her to Lily. It seemed like such an obvious solution, now that he'd thought of it. He'd take Daisy to Lily and his best friend could keep her safe. He snuggled the cat closer to him one more time and then got up off the curb.

"You're going to love Lily, Daisy. Everybody does. Everybody who counts, anyway."

It took him 45 minutes and some sheer dumb luck to find Lily's house, but when he did she was there in the front yard, as if she were waiting for him. She was sprawled across a blanket underneath the tree, reading a novel he didn't recognize. Her red hair was tucked behind her ears, out of the way, and she was completely engrossed in the story, enough that she didn't look up until he was standing nearly on top of her. When she did, her face split quickly into a large smile, erasing a momentary crease between her eyebrows that meant she was annoyed at being disturbed.

"Sev!"

He smiled back. "Hi, Lily. I brought you a kitten, because-"

Lily gasped, leaping to her feet, and interrupted him. "Oh, Sev, you're so sweet! You didn't have to do that! I don't _mind_ being made fun of for having a toad at school!"

That wasn't what he'd meant at all, but she'd called him sweet and it was hard to tell her differently. Lily reached out to pet Daisy and the kitten rubbed her head against Lily's hand as if she would rather be Lily's cat anyway.

"Oh, she's _beautiful_, Sev. Completely precious."

He'd been hoping that Daisy would like him better than she liked Lily, but of course, that had been ridiculous. No one liked him better than they liked Lily. And he was fairly certain that they shouldn't.

"Here, do you want to hold her?" The words came out before he could stop them, and when Lily's face lit up at the idea of holding Daisy, he didn't have the heart to take them back.

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed, already taking Daisy from his arms and cradling the kitten to her chest. Daisy purred and reached a paw up to bat at the small gold cross Lily wore around her neck, making his best friend laugh musically and pull it away.

This was it. This was the moment. This was when he had to tell her that Daisy was his cat and he only meant to ask Lily to look after her for the summer. If he didn't tell her right away, he was never going to have the guts to ask for Daisy back again, because he could already tell that girl and cat were perfect matches for each other. He opened his mouth and then shut it again. Lily looked so happy. He couldn't ruin it. Not when Lily being happy always made him happy, too, and not when Daisy was purring so hard he could hear her from here.

He reached out and scratched Daisy behind the ears, trying to find something to say, even if it _wasn't_ "I didn't mean to give her to you permanently." After a moment, he managed to find a suitable half-truth.

"She's one of Socks's kittens," he said, "And I couldn't think of a better home for her than yours."

Lily reached out and hugged him loosely, careful not to squash Daisy. "That's wonderful, Sev. I'm sure Socks is quite proud of herself."

He nodded. He didn't really care about Socks. He cared about Daisy. But here he was, giving her away. He tried to remind himself that it was safer that way. He didn't have to go home to know he'd never see any of the other kittens again, and it _was_ good to have Daisy safe. Even if none of the others was safe. Even if he, himself, wasn't safe.

"I've got to go home now," he said regretfully, "I'll get in trouble with my dad if I don't."

He'd get in trouble with his dad if he did, too. But sooner was better, and if he didn't go now, his dad would start wondering if he'd been up to something. It was always worst when Tobias got paranoid and suspicious.

Even so, he didn't want to leave. Not when it meant accepting that Daisy wasn't his cat anymore and that he couldn't possibly bring himself to take her away from Lily.

"Can I - can I say goodbye to Daisy before I go, though?"

Lily smiled. "Of course!"

She handed Daisy gently back to Severus and he held the kitten close.

He wanted to say a few things to Daisy. It was silly, but for the last few weeks she'd seemed like the only friend he had at his house. He walked a few feet away and turned his back on Lily, trying to pretend he wasn't giving Daisy up for her. He _could _have intended this all along. It would have made sense. Lily didn't need to know he hadn't intended it. He buried his face in Daisy's fur.

"Well," he whispered, "I _did_ wish I could take you someplace safe, and I _did_ wish I could get you away from my house forever so that you never had to go back. It seems like my wish has been granted."

It was true, but it didn't feel like it. After a few more goodbyes, he handed the kitten back to Lily and turned toward home. The only thing that got him there was the knowledge that at least Lily was happy. Sometimes, he thought he could take anything as long as Lily was happy.


End file.
